It's a ClubHouse Fiesta: Won't You Join Us In The Conversation?

The clubhouse is an audio-based app that allows the user to listen to the live conversations of people legally. The platform is limited to a few users right now. The users who want their conversations to be and those who want to listen and join the chat heard can use this platform. According to Jordan Minor, from PCMag, it is like Twitter is a podcast in which you are a member.

The membership to this app, which is more than a year old, is currently exclusively based on invitation. The app owned by Alpha Exploration Co. and worth almost $4 billion, was launched exclusively for iOS and later for US-only Android as the creators wished to begin slowly. It is available now on both iOS and Android. But the membership to this clubhouse is still on an invite-only basis. Every user has two invites initially. They can collect more as they use the app. You could also buy an invite on eBay.

There are many trying to scam people wishing to join Clubhouse. The invites bought on eBay are credible, but other platforms offer an invite link that could not always be trusted. Similarly, there are apps made in the like of clubhouse in Android to steal personal information.

The app is the only method you could join the clubhouse and listen to conversations. It is designed to be suitable for the small screen of mobile phones rather than for tablets. The app does not allow the users to post any photos other than their profile picture neither does it have an icon of its own.

But it uses the profile picture of its users as its icon. The image changes every week and most of the time the picture is that of a user who has had a great influence on the app or someone who utilises the app for the right purpose.

To register in the app you need to provide your mobile number and your real name. You can choose a username different from your real name. The person who wishes to invite you would need your mobile number to which the invite can be sent as a text message.

After you log in by clicking on the invite, you can provide and verify your email and link it with your Twitter account and contacts to make the process of setting up an account easier.

Once you log in you can select the topics you are interested in. You can follow the people in your contacts and also follow people with the same interests. Following people would help you in getting suggestions on conversations to listen to. However, all the conversation rooms or ‘clubs’ are open to every member of the Clubhouse.

The one who initiates the conversation can end it. The conversations are not stored by the app for future listeners but can be stored by the user by streaming it live on YouTube, for example. One conversation room or ‘club’ can have a maximum number of 5000 people.

The conversation could be of any kind. It could be official or friendly, could be between two people or be a group discussion. People use their phone without any filters or editing done to the sound. If you like to be part of a conversation there is a virtual ‘raise a hand’ button to click. The moderator can decide if they want you to intervene in the conversation.

The users in Clubhouse, right now, are mainly celebrities like Kevin Hart and Tiffiny Haddish and famous people like Elon Musk. There are also other people who really wish to speak.

The clubhouse has partnered with Stripe, a payment processing firm, to begin a monetisation scheme for iOS Clubhouse members in the US. Through Stripe the users get a chance to send money through the app to the creators.

Twitter’s ‘Spaces’, Telegram allowing the users to send voice chats, Instagram and Facebook which allows two or more people to stream at the same time are all in the race to get ahead of Clubhouse. But being an audio-based app makes Clubhouse stand out among the others.

The clubhouse is an open space where the users can speak whatever they wish. This has caused China to ban the app in February this year.

It has also had to face some issues like hate speech and people misusing the free space provided for them. Apart from being an exceptional digital space, it has a few drawbacks also. Clubhouse seems to record conversations if a member who is part of that conversation raises a complaint against it.

But it is not sure for how long clubhouse saves the recorded conversation. It also makes use of the personal information you share like your contacts and Twitter details. There are chances that like any other app Clubhouse is also tracking your movements and collecting more information than what you have voluntarily provided them.